No I do not want to say yes. No I do not want to say no. No I do not want to give you my opinion, no I do not want to not give you my opinion and no I do not want to be negative. I just want to say no. No to you, no to everything and no to me. No. No. No.

Unless you want to give me a cookie.

I Have the Power!

Last night I had trouble staying asleep. So after a while of trying, we decided to start over and turned the light on. I was still pretty worked up, so I decided to play with my toys for a bit until I calmed down. During that time Mom went for ice cream and Dad stayed to play with me. I did everything that I could to calm down. I rode my zebra, played with blocks, jumped into my ball pit and finally settled in on rolling one of my push toys back and forth across the floor.

All of this Dad seemed to approve of. So much so that he had gone to just lying on his back in the middle of the room. And it was from there that I heard his say, "NO!" as I ran my push toy across the wall and not the floor. Sure it's wood and heavy so it probably would have made marks, but I wasn't thinking about that at 11:30pm. Sometime during the end of his "NO!" I decided to spin around to show him that I was stopping, except I slipped. I must have hit the edge of the carpet, a wind must have caught me, or we could have had a small earthquake - I can't be too sure.

What happened next was both hilarious and sad. As I spun I took the push toy with me and as I fell with the toy, the weight of all of that wood and metal came full force around over my head and directly down on Dad. Now here is the funny part: Dad made a sound that I can only explain as the sound you would hear from a sick Yak getting kicked in the butt. I would say that he screamed like a girl, but I don't know of any female, outside of pregnant rhinoceroses, that could sound like that. So as he curled into a ball trying to repress words that he said he would teach me when I turn five, I realized that this whole incident had a down side: I didn't get it on film.

The Power of No

Not being able to fully articulate the exact verbiage that I would like to express during any particular situation, I’ve had to resort to allowing others to guess the exact desire in which I am having a trouble conveying. Thus I have found that the word "no", said ad nauseam, is my new modus operandi. It is not that I wish to be this obstinate; I just don’t have choice in the matter.

Goofy Individual

I am the very model of a goofy individual,
My movements are quite comical, while still very whimsical,
I’m quite adept at funny faces; many books I have read.
From reading to swimming classes, play is what I do instead.

I am the symbol of the proper childhood etiquette
Those who know me often praise me, I will happily admit
But I’m still humble because I have yet to learn arrogance
Even singing this to me increases my intelligence.

My learning process is still challenged chronologically
So puzzles to my Rock-a-Stack, all problems handled logically;
My learning is a daily thing, new memories I do obtain
If I had a fault it would be that my parents are clearly insane.

Everyone:
He beats on nearly everything because he’s awfully musical
He excels at mostly everything as long as it’s quite lyrical.

Off-Broadway Obstinance

The drama is real, the action is intense and tantrums will blow your mind. My full developed opinion is now showing at multiple locations. Don’t hesitate; run don’t walk, to your nearest patient expression - because you’re going to need it. Remember: this is a limited time offer that is only available for the next couple of years and will decrease in intensity as I learn to communicate and cope with my surroundings. So get your tolerance in check, compose that coolness and find your happy place, because this battle is going to be awesome!!!

Milestones

This last weekend I attended my second Bele Chere Festival Asheville, NC while staying at the Pines Cottages with Mom, Dad, Uncle Jahred, Aunt Erica and my cousin Kaiden. Last year, at five months old, I was not able to do much. During my first visit I was unable to walk or communicate; so I just took in what I could and left the rest for a future date.

It’s been a year now and things have changed. I can now walk, run and communicate, mostly through sign-language, and, most importantly, experience much more than I could a year ago. This year I ate everything that I could, walked around in heavy crowds, danced to music, saw all sorts of people and tried to grok as much of the art as I could. On Saturday we hiked the Craggy Gardens Trail (I only had to be carried a couple of times) and I hiked the last half a mile up Mount Mitchell, the highest point east of the Mississippi, all by myself. On Sunday we visited Chimney Rock Park and played in the Rocky Broad River.

Mom said that she is not sure if we are coming back next year because a lot of things could change between now and then. Either way, I will always look forward to crossing milestones, especially when I get to do it in familiar places with lots of family around me.

Experiences & Adventure

There is a specific difference between experiences and adventure. With an experience you build on previous knowledge. It is finding something slightly different, realizing it as different and allowing it affect your choices later in life. An adventure goes beyond a simple experience. An adventure expands your knowledge in ways you might never have imagined. Or to put it to an analogy, if your mind were a house, experiences would be upgrades, repairs and general maintenance (fresh paint, a new deck…) whereas an adventure could add something like a new floor, expanded garage or even a guest house.

While both are important, your experiences will always greatly outweigh adventures, for the simple fact one cannot continuously expand horizons without stopping, or at least slowing, to comprehend where you are. You must keep the house up or the new additions won’t be worth as much as they should.

Being that I am only 17 months old, I have a steady stream of both experiences and adventures. A simple trip to the grocery store, a weekend away or a new toy/book adds to my understanding of the world around me. And the more I understand now, the more I have to expand throughout the rest of my life. You see, knowledge is one of the wonderful things in life that works exponentially. The more you learn, the more it teaches and inspires you to learn more. In other words, you must continuously build on what you know to know what you don’t know.